[Ads-l] Origin of "At birth we boarded the train of life and met our parents"?

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Here is some twitter data suggesting that the passage was in
circulation by March 29, 2014 although the tweet immediately below
presented only one sentence.

[Begin tweet data]
https://twitter.com/JumokeOgunseye/status/449997456500334592
Jumoke Ogunseye @JumokeOgunseye
1b. At birth we boarded the train and met our parents,and we believe
they will always travel on our side.
4:52 PM - 29 Mar 2014
[End tweet data]

[Begin tweet data]
https://twitter.com/nithamr/status/452117656221806592
Nitha Harripersadh @nithamr
At birth we boarded the train and met our parents,and we believe they
will always travel on our side. However, at... http://fb.me/6LeSnkBAU
1:17 PM - 4 Apr 2014
[End tweet data]

The Facebook link above is dead.

[Begin tweet data]
Greg Winski @GregWinski3
At birth, we boarded the train and met our parents, and we believe
they will always travel on our side. However,...
http://fb.me/2GC8rFecG
2:28 PM - 28 Apr 2014
[End tweet data]

[Begin Facebook excerpt]
https://www.facebook.com/SCRAPMAVEN/posts/10152410993411450
Greg Winski
April 28 · Pasadena, TX
At birth, we boarded the train and met our parents, and we believe
they will always travel on our side.
However, at some station our parents will step down from the train,
leaving us on this journey alone.
[End Facebook excerpt]

Garson

On Mon, Nov 10, 2014 at 6:57 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Origin of "At birth we boarded the train of life and met our
>               parents"?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Who originated the metaphoric moral-bearing maxim that begins "At
> birth we boarded the train of life and met our parents ..." and
> eventually asserts "we should leave behind beautiful memories for
> those who will continue to travel on the train of life"?  (There are
> various texts, adapted to fit their contexts.)
>
> Joel
>
> What I found Googling --
>
> A facebook appearance attributes it to Father Henry Liguori (who's a
> "public figure" on facebook).
>
> The Chandler & Brownsboro Statesman, of Chandler TX, printed it circa
> July 24, 2014.
>
> https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20141015104624-23234557-train-of-life
> attributes it to Kathleen a Nazarene; but her page at AllPoetry (4
> months ago) says "Author Notes / I received this via email from a
> friend today. Its' author is unknown to me. I thought this was worth
> sharing."
>
> In Sept. 2014 it was adapted for an on-line memorial book.
>
> The Saint Francis de Sales Parish of Holland MI places the passenger
> in the parish and the text appears over the name Louise Wall.
>
> My correspondent ends with the name Theodore Roosevelt!
>
> And amazon.com is selling the DVD -- only 1 left in stock.  Wikipedia
> says "Train of Life (in French Train de Vie, in Romanian Trenul
> viet,ii) is a tragicomedy film by France, Belgium, Netherlands,
> Israel and Romania made in 1998 in the French language. It tells the
> story of an eastern European Jewish village's plan to escape the
> Holocaust."  Unrelated?
>
> Joel
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org